Wednesday, September 19, 2018

The value of a gift

We went to visit my mom in the Azores this summer vacation. She calls herself a true minimalist and laughs when I say I am a minimalist. So I was surprised to see a few things in her "schoolroom" (where she tutors) that she has held onto for many, many years. 

This is one of them. A present given to her by a student about 30 years ago. She told the story as if it were yesterday. The student was a priest, but he didn't reveal that he was a priest to the rest of the class until the very last day. When asked about his profession, he had said he did "life insurance". He gave this to my mom as a present and told her about the impact she had on his life as a teacher. 

I score pretty low on the "gifts as a love language" in the five love languages book by Gary Chapman. But I thought it was beautiful how much this gift meant to my mom, reminded her of her past, etc. I also have a some keepsakes and some books that I know exactly who gave to me and when. And that is what makes our house a home. 

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